M100：一个大设计螺旋星系
(原标题: M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy)
2024-05-02
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在真正的宇宙尺度上，M100被称为一个宏伟的螺旋星系。这个由超过1000亿颗恒星组成的大星系有着明确的旋臂，就像我们的银河系一样。室女座星系团中最明亮的成员之一M100，也被称为NGC 4321，距离精心修饰的后发座5600万光年。在这张望远镜图像中，正面的大设计螺旋与稍不显眼的边缘螺旋NGC 4312（右上）共享近1度的宽视场。在地球亚利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫附近的黑暗天空中，这张长达21小时的等效曝光照片揭示了M100明亮的蓝色星团和复杂蜿蜒的尘埃带，这些都是这类星系的标志。对M100中变星的测量在确定宇宙的大小和年龄方面发挥了重要作用。
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Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately known as a grand design spiral galaxy. The large galaxy of over 100 billion stars has well-defined spiral arms, similar to our own Milky Way. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, M100, also known as NGC 4321 is 56 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. In this telescopic image, the face-on grand design spiral shares a nearly 1 degree wide field-of-view with slightly less conspicuous edge-on spiral NGC 4312 (at upper right). The 21 hour long equivalent exposure from a dark sky site near Flagstaff, Arizona, planet Earth, reveals M100's bright blue star clusters and intricate winding dust lanes which are hallmarks of this class of galaxies. Measurements of variable stars in M100 have played an important role in determining the size and age of the Universe.
© Drew Evans